Upon its launch in 2014, Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo line changed the face of modern watchmaking.
Daring, innovative, and bold, the collection from star designer Fabrizio Bonamassa took Gérald Genta’s older ‘luxury sport watch’ concepts — as well as his more recent high-complication wristwatches for the Italian luxury behemoth — and evolved them into a single, genre-bending product family. The Octo Finissimo line took advantage of Bulgari’s then-recent move into vertically integrated watch manufacturing to craft a collection that began winning industry awards for thinness at a record pace, culminating in the world’s thinnest mechanical watch, the Octo Finissimo Ultra, in 2022.
This particular OF, a titanium example, is perhaps the lightest possible variant of the line. Housed in a 40mm titanium case with a sapphire crystal, a brushed bezel, a titanium crown with a black ceramic inlay, it features a matte grey dial with printed indices, a matching 'skeletonized-obelisk' handset, and subsidiary seconds at 7:00. Powered by the Bulgari BVL138 automatic movement with micro-rotor and 60-hour power reserve, it comes paired to a matte black alligator leather strap with a signed titanium pin buckle.
Measuring just 6.4mm thick with a 2.23mm-thick movement, the Octo Finissimo was for a time the thinnest automatic watch in the world. And while that record has since been broken by Piaget’s Altiplano Ultimate Automatic, we must say — the OF, with its robust case and 100m of water resistance, may still be the world’s thinnest practical automatic!
Surely, if you’re the type of person who appreciates a forward-thinking brand — who’s tired of the same old designs being resurfaced ad infinitum — then there are few horological developments more exciting than the Octo Finissimo line. But don’t take our word for it.
Try this baby on today!